Miclxin, a Novel MIC60 Inhibitor, Induces Apoptosis via Mitochondrial Stress in β-Catenin Mutant Tumor Cells

Morphological changes of mitochondria-related to apoptosis during postmortem aging of beef muscles

This study aimed to investigate how postmortem muscle cells' mitochondria changed in morphology from three aspects: the outer membrane, cristae, and fission/fusion. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results showed that mitochondria underwent a morphology transformation from normal to swelling and collapse. Meanwhile, the cleavage of OPA1, upregulation of OMA1, downregulation of Mic60 and transmission electron microscope micrographs revealed that mitochondrial cristae ruptured with an aging time extended. Additionally, the increased expressions of Fis1 and Drp1, and the AFM topographic images mutually confirmed mitochondrial fission. These results further proved from the perspective of mitochondrial morphology that the degree of mitochondrial damage increased with the postmortem aging time extended, which was consistent with the results of the release of cytochrome c caused by the increase of mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening and the decrease of mitochondrial membrane permeability, and further induced the apoptosis of postmortem muscle cells.

Identification of the polyether ionophore lenoremycin through a new screening strategy for targeting cancer stem cells

Targeting and eradicating cancer stem cells (CSCs), also termed tumor-initiating cells, are promising strategies for preventing cancer progression and recurrence. To identify candidate compounds targeting CSCs, we established a new screening strategy with colorectal CSC spheres and non-CSC spheres in three-dimensional (3D) culture system. Through chemical screening using our system with in-house microbial metabolite library, we identified polyether cation ionophores that selectively inhibited CSC sphere formation, whereas CSC spheres were resistant to conventional anticancer agents. One of the hit compounds, the most selective and effective microbial metabolite lenoremycin, decreased CSC populations via inducing reactive oxygen species production. This study demonstrated that our newly established screening system is useful for discovering agents that selectively eliminate CSCs.

The Emerging Roles of Silver nanoparticles to Target Viral Life-Cycle and Detect Viral Pathogens

Along the line of recent vaccine advancements, new antiviral therapeutics are compelling to combat viral infection‐related public health crises. Several properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) such as low level of cytotoxicity, ease of tunability of the AgNPs in the ultra‐small nanoscale size and shape through different convenient bottom‐up chemistry approaches, high penetration of the composite with drug formulations into host cells has made AgNPs, a promising candidate for developing antivirals. In this review, we have highlighted the recent advancements in the AgNPs based nano‐formulations to target cellular mechanisms of viral propagation, immune modulation of the host, and the ability to synergistically enhance the activity of existing antiviral drugs. On the other hand, we have discussed the recent advancements on AgNPs based detection of viral pathogens from clinical samples using inherent physicochemical properties. This article will provide an overview of our current knowledge on AgNPs based formulations that has promising potential for developing a counteractive strategy against emerging and existing viruses.